The Stone Read online

  ‘Hello Edmund, Ben tells me that you have come over from England to support my charity. I just want to thank you.’

  ‘That’s a pleasure Miss...? Edmund asked her.

  ‘Oh, sorry, I’m Ellie McIntyre.’ She smiled sweetly at him.

  ‘You’re not American are you, where are you from Ellie?’

  ‘Well originally I’m from Edinburgh, but when I qualified in Bristol I got a place near there, a little town called Bradford on Avon,’ she explained.

  ‘What are you qualified as?’ Edmund asked

  ‘I’m a vet.’ She answered modestly.

  ‘Well it’s a small world; I’m involved with a Vet Pharm company in the New Forest!’ Edmund smiled.

  ‘Yes I know,’ looking over at Ben, who smiled and waved trying to look innocent.

  Edmund looked at Ellie, ‘beauty, brains and caring as well. Tell me, what is the charity all about?’

  The whole evening went by in a flash. They talked about everything and anything, and after a while it got a bit noisy for Edmund, so much that he had to shout over the noise. ‘Are you staying at the Waldorf?’ Edmund asked her and she said that she was. He invited her to his room; unbelievably he was met with no opposition.

  ‘What, this is your room Edmund?’ She was looking at the notice on the door. As he opened the door, she walked in without hesitation. ‘How did you manage to get this room?’

  He explained about Ben and their friendship, and how they had met in the sixties in Cannes. He felt so comfortable with her. Why did she keep smiling at him? He just couldn’t get it into his head. How he wanted to kiss her, but hadn’t got the nerve. He remembered the mess with Pauline, and he couldn’t stand another rebuff, so he held back.

  Ellie stayed the night, and several more nights. Ben was going to call him up the next day, but Vera stopped him.

  ‘Look here Ben, you darn well set this up didn’t you, and so we’ll leave them to it hun, and let’s see what happens, OK?’ Ben smiled and nodded.

  They were inseparable in New York; she didn’t mind that there was fifteen years between them. He asked her why she had chosen him. ‘You feel so vulnerable to me Edmund, it’s as if you’ve got some big hurt inside you, and I want to get rid of it with all of me.’ She asnswered

  23: Alex’s Story

  Herriot Watt University

  Alex invited Ellie into his Glasgow offices, amazed to see how composed she looked, so he started with a question.

  ‘You were probably wondering why someone with the same name as you would leave you with such an inheritance, and yet you don’t even know her, am I right?’

  ‘Yes, Alex, it has certainly given me some sleepless nights since I had that meeting with your Mr Jameson in Salisbury.

  ‘Well Ellie, I can now reveal to you that the deceased Miss Eloise Mary McIntyre, was your natural mother, and before I tell you why, I want to know your feelings about that.’ Alex looked somewhat serious.

  ‘Ellie looked quite coolly at Alex. ‘I suppose you’re going to say that my dad then, is not my natural dad, at all is he? I’m right, aren’t I?’

  ‘We’re racing ahead Ellie but you are right. Your father is in fact your foster father, and your mother is in fact your foster mother.’ Alex tried to raise a smile.

  ‘Right, then so who is my father?’ Ellie asked.

  ‘Ellie, I really don’t want to prolong your agony longer that I need to, but would you please grant me this wish, and let me take this step by step for you. I realise this is very hard for you, but I have known you since you were born!’

  ‘So you’re my father then Alex are you?’ Ellie looked at Alex searchingly.

  ‘No, it’s not me Ellie, I promise you. A man far better than me has that privilege.’ Alex said.

  This calmed her down a little. ‘I need a drink.’ Ellie suddenly said. Alex looked surprised at that comment from her. ‘I mean I need a cup of tea.’ They both laughed and Alex rang Maggie for some tea.

  ‘Your mother, let’s get back to her shall we?’ Alex asked. Ellie nodded and smiled her disarming smile at him. ‘Your mother was one of the really lucky people. She was beautiful, she was a gifted veterinary surgeon, she was well travelled; spoke several languages, and most of all she cared. That most of all was her life force. She cared. There were two things that changed your mother’s life that happened close together. The first was when she met your father in New York, and the second, not much later, when she went to Tanzania. Your mother and father met through a mutual friend, a rich stockbroker on Wall Street called Ben Cohen. Your mother had set up a charity in Tanzania and Ben was able to get together some rich people, and like minded influential people to make the charity a strong one.’

  ‘What sort of charity was it?’ Ellie asked.

  ‘Your mother found some people who were concerned about the care for working animals, like donkeys and goats that were badly neglected and dying needlessly in Tanzania and she wanted to help. Your father was involved with a Veterinary Pharmaceuticals company in the New Forest, so not only were they interested in the same thing, but also they fell in love the moment they first met.

  ‘Something bad must have happened Alex, what went wrong?’ She looked at Alex puzzled.

  ‘They were only together for a few months, when she got the call to go to Tanzania, where they needed her help. There was no way that your father could stop your mother going there, I’m sure that it would have been a waste of effort for him. However, what she didn’t know was that as she was flying out to Dar as Salaam, she had been caught pregnant with you. She had to book a flight out a week later, and as she had sorted the problem out early, this gave her some time to go on safari in a local game reserve. They were camping near a lake and she was bitten on her neck by some sort of tropical fly. Within a few hours she was showing signs of an acute reaction, which was getting worse by the hour.’

  ‘She was rushed by helicopter to the airport, and then flown to London on the first available plane. She was taken to the department of tropical diseases at the St Pancras Hospital. They quickly found the cause of the problem and were able to stabilise her body, including her foetus, I mean you.’

  ‘But what happened then?’ Ellie looked enthralled with the story.

  He looked gravely at Ellie, and said, ‘that wonderful brain, that lively character, that needle sharp memory!’

  Ellie looked at Alex and she was desperate to know, ‘What happened?’

  ‘That part of her couldn’t be saved. It had taken too long to get to the hospital and the brain had been attacked by the virus and had done irreparable damage. She was kept in some sort of suspended animation, whilst you were growing inside her. It was a desperate time for your dad, he was totally powerless.’

  ‘When you finally came into the world your father was at the birth and I know he held you, but your mother had no idea what was happening. After that, your mother went downhill for a while, needing round the clock care. He had to make a decision, one that had to be the best for you both. Your mother had a brother who had a lovely wife and no children. They wanted to take care of you, and he made the decision to let you go there. Do you think he was wrong to do that Ellie?’ Alex asked.

  That was a difficult question for Ellie. How could she know? What would it have been like being brought up in a one-parent family? Her adopted parents were wonderful to her; she was given everything she needed. Eventually after a long pause she answered.

  ‘I think dad was probably right, but I really don’t know Alex.’

  ‘Shall we break for some more tea?’ He asked. She nodded, and he rang Maggie. After about fifteen minutes he saw that she was refreshed and that she was ready to carry on.

  ‘I’m sure that you must have noticed that your adopted father was not a strong man physically and in his later years could only work part time as a carpenter.’

  ‘Yes, I had thought about that, just recently. I wondered how come we lived in such a nice house in Bradford on Avon, and that I was
able to go to Herriot Watt with such support, in fact we never struggled with anything come to think of it!’ She looked at Alex, and he smiled back at her. ‘It was my real dad wasn’t it, Alex. My real dad was looking after me in the background. Am I right Alex?’ Ellie pleaded with him.

  ‘Well, yes you are right Ellie. Like I said to you earlier, your dad is a very special person. He always considered others and wanted the best for them, especially you of course.’ Alex explained.

  Ellie thought about what Alex had said. Initially, she felt proud of her dad, but then frustrated because she had missed so many years of knowing him.

  Alex looked at Ellie, struggling to comprehend all these things she hadn’t known about before she came in his office. There was one more thing that Alex was wrestling with. He was going to tell her but then thought better of it, at least for the time being.

  He was going to tell her that in all the years of care that her mother had received, towards the later stages of her life she had enjoyed a few little flickers of memory recall. Good enough at times to be able to leave the nursing home in Edinburgh. During these brief spells, Edmund took her for a walk around the park next to Herriot Watt University. She liked to sit on the bench on her own and look at the ducks. Edmund kept a wary eye on her from the next bench. Sometimes a young blonde student would come over and sit with her, and they would chat for a while.

  Edmund would sit on his bench and watch his own daughter and her mother chatting happily to each other. Neither knowing who the other was. He was utterly heartbroken. As he watched them he dreamed what it would have been like if that insect bite so many years ago hadn’t ruined their world.

  ‘Have you got anything else to tell me about my mother Alex, I have so little of her?’ She asked.

  Alex was almost in tears himself. He wanted so to tell her that she had met her mother several times, but if he did, it would break her heart too. Instead he gave her some photos of her mother before her illness. Some of the last fundraising party in Manhattan, some old family portraits, and finally a graduation photo from Bristol University, remarkably like the one Ellie had had taken at Herriot Watt.

  ‘Just one other thing Ellie, your inheritance is rather large in value terms, and your dad even thought about that for you. He took out a policy to cover the tax you would have to pay. For most people they would have to sell the property to pay it. But I have sorted the policy out and the insurers have settled the whole amount for you.’

  ‘He thought of everything didn’t he, my dad.’ Ellie was close to tears.

  Yes, Ellie, he thought of everything but himself.’ Ellie got out of her chair, she was sobbing, and she hugged Alex as hard as she could.

  ‘Glad no one can see this,’ he thought. ‘A lawyer and a client hugging and sobbing at the same time it would blow their mind.’

  24: The Big Question

  Edmund was sitting in the comfy leather chair in his cottage in the forest, his face reflecting the glow from the log fire. Zowie was sitting at his side, and he was stroking her head unconsciously whilst reading a letter from Alex. In the letter he described how Ellie had received all of her inheritance with good grace. Also he detailed the discussions had at his office on the Tuesday.

  He wrote that he had told her that she was adopted and who her real mother was. She had taken the whole thing very well, even to the point of understanding the difficult decision that Edmund had had to make when she was born.

  Alex also made him aware that her step parents had moved to South Africa soon after Ellie had graduated, so as far as Alex was concerned he saw no impediment to Edmund now contacting his daughter. Edmund read the passage several times ‘Don’t you think it’s time to change, and make both of your lives a little better?’

  Edmund had spent so much time alone. He had had no visits and visited no one apart from the trips to Edinburgh to see his beloved Eloise. Now that that part of his life had come to a close, there were times of melancholy, and so much of his time was spent dwelling on the past. When he had picked his mail up, he decided to walk towards his little secret pond through the thick copse of trees. The little bench was there and the atmosphere was perfect. They seemed to melt into the surroundings as the quiet enveloped them.

  It wasn’t the same on his return though! Zowie was nervous, she had her tail between her legs and her ears were flat to her head. She looked around her front and back. Edmund followed her gaze but could see nothing. There were the usual shadows and dark areas, but that was normal.

  ‘What is it, girl?’ She looked up at him, almost pleading,

  Edmund knew that she was feeling something, perhaps, that humans cannot feel or even see, but to her it was not anything she liked at all! He instinctively felt in his pocket for the stone, his long-term friend, but it wasn’t there. No comfort, just emptiness inside his stomach.

  He put Alex’s letter down to think about what to do. Alex had a point. The way was clear, and maybe Ellie did want to see him, but he still felt that she wouldn’t forgive him for his enforced absence from her life.

  Edmund thought back to the times when life had been so good, that wonderful night at the Waldorf, coming back from the States, those wonderful months coming home from the office to Eloise, who was by then working from the bungalow in Southbourne. Then of course, not long after, their world had been shattered by her illness. The birth of Ellie had been so traumatic. Then, that entire problem with the adoption he struggled with. And so it went on!

  He sank back into the chair, so tired, so very tired! Before he lapsed into unconsciousness he called out her name, as if she was in the room with him.

  ‘Ellie, please forgive me I did it all for you, my darling daughter.’

  25: The Payoff

  At the Pharma Company in the New Forest, Ivor was great through it all. He got support from Tim in the finance area, and despite Edmund’s protracted absences, the company went from strength to strength. Edmund was very grateful to Tim for holding back on the sale of the company. Usually banks sell their investment in less than five years, but Edmund promised a big improvement in a few more years, and that Tim would get a better return if he held on.

  A year had passed since the birth of Ellie; Edmund had done his best to get some normality in his life. He had received several caring calls from Vera in New York but thankfully she never pressed hard on his grief. Paul had actually written! He had just finished a supporting role in a film, and said that he was taking American Nationality courses and most surprising of all he was getting married. Elvira was apparently an heiress of a wealthy industrialist. He had certainly ‘fallen on his feet’ this was great news for Edmund, Paul had now made it in his own right!

  ‘Can you come over to L A for the wedding? I want you as my best man old matey!’ Paul wrote.

  Edmund wrote back immediately explaining why he couldn’t go, and suggesting that Brando doubled for him. He also sent a telegram of congratulations to Paul and Elvira on their nuptials, but never got a reply from either. But that was Paul. Edmund didn’t really expect one.

  The eventual sale of the company went through in 1991, by then Tony had retired. Then he suddenly died of a massive stroke shortly afterwards. Ivor was very shocked and it brought the thought of their own mortality that much closer.

  Ivor and Edmund were on the train to London, and Edmund was outlining the deal that they were offered. Their shares were valued at seven times their face value. But he explained that there was an additional deal offered to them. The deal was, that if they agreed to stay in the business for a further year, to enable the new company to get their strategy right, for any shares they didn’t sell on the first deal, their value would be calculated on the profit made in that year.

  Alex had given Edmund the benefit of his advice on the takeover, after an invite to stay with him for a short holiday in Southbourne. So when Edmund explained the deal in layman’s terms to Ivor, he hit the roof!

  The potential was enormous. All Ivor had to do was ramp up the
sales and they would ‘rake it in’. He rubbed his hands so much they nearly caught fire. They sold half their shareholding that day at seven times, and the poor owners had to pay twenty times the face value, on the anniversary.

  Along with a nice pension pot and a golden handshake to boot, Ivor could now retire a rich man, something he thought could never happen before he met Edmund.

  Of course Edmund had received a similar sort of payoff, but that sort of money had to work very hard, it couldn’t be used in the same way as Ivor’s. Before he left the company, he was called to Bury St Edmunds for a briefing with the Managing Director of the new owner of the business.

  Jack Defors had a very strong persona and had a hard reputation for getting what he wanted. Many people avoided contact with him due to his abrasive nature. Edmund was pleased to have been warned about him before going to Bury.